Business Development Officer, T.D. McNeil Insurance Services, Fresno, California
There are important reasons why you would be interested in having a Roth IRA. Participation is restricted by income which results in many people who really need the benefits of a Roth IRA being unable to open an account.
You probably appreciate that the Roth IRA pays benefits after age 59.5 that can be received income tax free. Other qualified plans tax the entire distribution as current income.
Unlike a traditional IRA, 403(b), 401(k) and other plans there aren’t any mandatory distributions at age 70.5. These mandatory distributions are fully taxable as ordinary income. The Roth IRA also provides tax benefits that would pass to beneficiaries should you die prior to exhausting your Roth IRA.
If you decide to use the funds in the IRA for educational expenses, for a child or yourself, there isn’t the 10% penalty tax assessed as there is in the case of the traditional IRA. You can use the funds for helping in the event of a disability, or use the money for a first-time home purchase, without penalty or tax if the plan has been in effect for more than five years.
An easy way to invest in a Roth IRA is to open a regular IRA and when you are done making contributions, convert it to a Roth IRA. You would be taxed on the value of the traditional IRA as though it were current income, however, with some planning you could probably arrange for that to have the same impact that you would have experienced with making the Roth IRA contributions currently.
If you have an employer sponsored plan you should contact the plan administrator and tell them that you want a Roth option for their plan. This is not unusual in 401(k) and 403(b) plans. The money could be invested in a Roth 403(b) for example and receive the same treatment as the Roth IRA. The contribution limits would be much higher. The employer might consider this plan particularly advantageous to the more highly compensated employees, but it is a great benefit for all employees.
The Third Party Administrator for your employer’s sponsored plan probably has the language already prepared to institute a Roth option. The fact that so few plans offer a Roth option is due to poor communications. This should be an option that your employer would favor. Your senior people will love the option. It would be a great benefit for all the employees.
A permanent life insurance policy has many of the same characteristics of the Roth IRA. Much like the Roth IRA the premiums are paid with after tax dollars. There isn’t any current tax deduction for the deposit. In the same way the life insurance policy and Roth IRA provide for a tax deferred (and ultimately tax-free) accumulation of cash inside the policy. With the life insurance policy there isn’t any restriction on borrowing the money from the cash value. The careful use of loans can result in recovering the cash value without paying income tax. Universal life insurance policies and variable life insurance policies have the ability to accumulate significant amounts of money in this way.
Unlike the Roth IRA there aren’t any income restrictions to participating in a life insurance policy. There isn’t a restriction on the amount that you put into the plan. Contributions are at your discretion.
Of course the life insurance policy is also self-completing should you die before reaching withdrawing benefits.
The variable life insurance policies also afford a person with the option of selecting a mix of security based solutions that will rise and fall with the market. Again, this is similar to some of the investment characteristics found in Roth IRA vehicles.
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You probably appreciate that the Roth IRA pays benefits after age 59.5 that can be received income tax free. Other qualified plans tax the entire distribution as current income.
Unlike a traditional IRA, 403(b), 401(k) and other plans there aren’t any mandatory distributions at age 70.5. These mandatory distributions are fully taxable as ordinary income. The Roth IRA also provides tax benefits that would pass to beneficiaries should you die prior to exhausting your Roth IRA.
If you decide to use the funds in the IRA for educational expenses, for a child or yourself, there isn’t the 10% penalty tax assessed as there is in the case of the traditional IRA. You can use the funds for helping in the event of a disability, or use the money for a first-time home purchase, without penalty or tax if the plan has been in effect for more than five years.
An easy way to invest in a Roth IRA is to open a regular IRA and when you are done making contributions, convert it to a Roth IRA. You would be taxed on the value of the traditional IRA as though it were current income, however, with some planning you could probably arrange for that to have the same impact that you would have experienced with making the Roth IRA contributions currently.
If you have an employer sponsored plan you should contact the plan administrator and tell them that you want a Roth option for their plan. This is not unusual in 401(k) and 403(b) plans. The money could be invested in a Roth 403(b) for example and receive the same treatment as the Roth IRA. The contribution limits would be much higher. The employer might consider this plan particularly advantageous to the more highly compensated employees, but it is a great benefit for all employees.
The Third Party Administrator for your employer’s sponsored plan probably has the language already prepared to institute a Roth option. The fact that so few plans offer a Roth option is due to poor communications. This should be an option that your employer would favor. Your senior people will love the option. It would be a great benefit for all the employees.
A permanent life insurance policy has many of the same characteristics of the Roth IRA. Much like the Roth IRA the premiums are paid with after tax dollars. There isn’t any current tax deduction for the deposit. In the same way the life insurance policy and Roth IRA provide for a tax deferred (and ultimately tax-free) accumulation of cash inside the policy. With the life insurance policy there isn’t any restriction on borrowing the money from the cash value. The careful use of loans can result in recovering the cash value without paying income tax. Universal life insurance policies and variable life insurance policies have the ability to accumulate significant amounts of money in this way.
Unlike the Roth IRA there aren’t any income restrictions to participating in a life insurance policy. There isn’t a restriction on the amount that you put into the plan. Contributions are at your discretion.
Of course the life insurance policy is also self-completing should you die before reaching withdrawing benefits.
The variable life insurance policies also afford a person with the option of selecting a mix of security based solutions that will rise and fall with the market. Again, this is similar to some of the investment characteristics found in Roth IRA vehicles.